Batman Rises
by Vivek Reddy
Summary: Watch how Bruce Wayne is inspired to become the Dark Knight, and how he gets his sidekick Robin, and fights crime in the city of Gotham.
1. The New Hero

Chapter 1

A huge mansion stood in the middle of a grass-filled land, dark in the night. Coloured brown, laid with a plenty of windows, was the house, with all the lights off. In one room was awake a candle, and a lamp. It was the middle of night, twelve, as the clock struck.

Thomas Wayne was standing outside his bedroom, waiting, tensed. He was sweating and was wiping his face instantly. Inside, his wife, Martha Wayne, was undergoing delivery. Since there was no time, she was being operated in the house itself.

Five minutes of screams and silent prayers from Martha and Thomas followed. Then there was silence. Alfred Pennyworth, the house butler, came by.

"Master Wayne, you will be succeeded by your son" he said.

A metaphor to the saying that Martha had given birth to a baby boy.

Thomas was happy and hugged Alfred, with excitement. He wiped his eyes and went inside the room. He saw his wife, holding a baby in her hands, with tears in her eyes. He ran to her at once and held the baby in his hands, looking at him cheerily. He slightly touched the boy's forehead.

"Bruce Wayne" he said.

Six years passed by, as Bruce Wayne started growing mature and getting introduced to the world. He was a kind boy, and liked to solve jigsaw puzzles and brain games, which was appreciated by his parents. Alfred became his best friend, roaming with him wherever he went.

As he grew, he had developed a fear of bats, as he considered them to be extremely strange and ugly creatures, who wandered around the night just to frighten people with their groans.

On a fine Saturday, Bruce and his parents went to a movie hall, and after watching a three-hour-movie, they came out of the hall, only to be mugged by a burglar.

"Hey you, your money and jewels, now!" he demanded.

He had a revolver in his hand. Thomas, afraid of the consequences, handed over his wallet. Martha, plucked the silver necklace from her neck, and passed it on.

But the burglar did not give up. He pointed his gun towards Martha, and before he could shoot, Thomas came in the way and took the bullet for his wife. He fell to the ground, bleeding. The burglar kicked Thomas out of the way and pressed the trigger, with Martha as the victim. The Wayne couple was collapsed on the ground, with their last breath. Bruce Wayne was left alone, both in the scene and as an orphan.

The bodies of Bruce's parents were buried in the cemetery, and Bruce was left to be taken care of by Alfred, who developed an affection towards Bruce. He was left dumbstruck and tearful the day on and had the habit to cry at least once a day. He never gave up and decided to bring justice to his city.

Twenty years later, he saw himself as an adult Bruce. He was the head of Wayne Enterprises, a conglomerate located in Gotham City.

Bruce Wayne was walking on the road, wearing a half-jacket over his favourite blue shirt with white stripes, kicking stones on the way. It was ten at night and he had decided not to chose his vehicle for the day, opting to walk the path to the Wayne Manor.

As he was walking, he heard a strange noise. He stopped, throwing his ears towards the sound. He heard it once more, deepening his curiosity, who then cut his way into a local road, which headed towards a garbage dumpyard. As he went forward, the sound grew louder. On further movement, the sound introduced itself as a call for help, from a young man.

"Please, I have a family" said the man.

"Why the hell do you keep telling me that?" said the listener.

Bruce understood the scene. A group of kidnappers were threatening a young man.

"Tell me where the gold is" the man demanded.

"Please, I don't know" came the reply.

The kidnapper was fed up of the man. He slowly got up from the dustbin he was sitting on and untucked his shirt. He then shot a bullet on the man's heart with his revolver. The latter fell back, bleeding, eyes still. He had died.

Bruce Wayne, who had watched the scene, stood quiet. He slowly backed a little. He was completely shocked by the forbidding incident. This man was the third person to die before his eyes. He started walking back, not making a slight noise. As he reached the main street, he picked up his cell phone and dialled Alfred.

"Alfred, send the Lamborghini, now" he said.

He was anxious, worried about the poor man, his family and future problems. Ten minutes later Alfred arrived in the car and Bruce stepped into the backseat and addressed Alfred to head to the Wayne Manor.

After his arrival, Bruce took a shower bath and freshened himself. As he sat in the living room, Alfred arrived.

"Your lemonade, Master Wayne" he said.

Bruce took the lemonade and stood up.

"You know, Alfred?" he began. "Today, I saw my parents die. Again, after twenty years"

Alfred stood quiet, thinking.

"When I was six, a son of a bitch killed my parents in front of me, I couldn't do anything then. And now, a mugger killed my co-citizen, and the adult and mature me, could do nothing. What's this, Alfred? Aren't things gonna change?"

"Master Wayne, as you said, you could do nothing. What would you plan to do, if this repeats?" Alfred asked with curiosity.

Bruce was silent and took a sip of his lemonade.

"That would be my job from now on. Plan what to do" he said, finishing his drink, placing it on the table and leaving the room.

The next night, Bruce Wayne decided to go on another walk and reached the same avenue. He was wearing a full-sleeve jacket this time, with a hood. He went in, silently, ensuring no indication of arrival. He reached the same dumpyard, only to watch the same mugger threatening another person.

"Well, your husband died without providing anything, would you like the same to happen to you?" he asked.

"Please, don't kill me, I don't know where the gold is" said the lady, who was the wife of the dead victim.

The mugger got up from his dustbin seat, and again untucked his jacket. He loaded his revolver and pointed it towards the woman.

"Last chance"

There was no reply. Before he could shoot, a man with a hood charged towards him, pushing him, throwing him into a large garbage can. It was Bruce Wayne, with a hood over his head.

"Hey" said one of the persons present there. "Who do you think you are?"

Bruce punched him on his face and kicked him, making him fall to the river nearby, getting washed away. Another two men pointer their pistols on Bruce, but he was not scared. As they began shooting, Bruce took the cap of the dustbin nearby, and covered himself with it. Two after two bullets began failing to attack him. When they were reloading their guns, Bruce seized the opportunity and threw the cap on one of them. He air-kicked the other person.

The leader of the group stood up. He began charging towards Bruce, who in turn was running, too. As they came closer, Bruce dodged him and slid past him, and from behind, he twisted his face. That was it, the man had died.

"Help!" cried the woman was present there.

"Hey you" said one of the men. "Show me your face, else you'll see her dead"

Bruce gasped. He couldn't watch a fourth innocent to die before him. He slowly unveiled his hood, but before the men could see his face, the woman slapped the guy who held her captive.

"How dare you!" said the other man and slapped the woman.

Bruce raced forward and threw himself on the man. He began to simultaneously punch the man on his cheek, until finally he punched hard on his nose, which immediately began to bleed, and left him for dead.

One man was left, who charged against Bruce with complete stamina, but Bruce remained still. As the man approached nearer, Bruce pushed his hand forward to slam his neck. His insides were disturbed and he died on the spot.

He gasped.

"Are you okay?" he asked, lifting the fallen woman.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Your protector" he said. "Head back home safely"

Bruce reached the Wayne Manor. He entered his bedroom and removed his jacket. Alfred arrived with another lemonade.

"Are you okay, Master Wayne?" he asked.

"Not completely" he said. "I killed three people tonight"

Alfred dropped the plate, and the lemonade drink splashed onto the floor, accompanied by the glass.

"Yes, and now I've decided to fight crime in Gotham" he said.

"What do you mean by fight crime?" Alfred asked.

"Just go around the city in the night and bring down injustice"

"Master Wayne, you cannot do this, I mean you –"

"I know Alfred, I'm Bruce Wayne, billionaire. But things got me into this. And I won't go in the open. I would wear a mask, and remember, only in the night"

"Well" began Alfred, clearing the broken glass and the splattered lemonade. "Necessary requirements could be brought by your butler"

Bruce Wayne smiled.


	2. Batman Begins

Chapter 2

Six months passed by.

Alfred was holding a tray, with a cold drink on it. Alfred reached the drawing room of Wayne Manor. There was a piano over there. He put the tray aside and pressed some keys on the piano, black, white, white, black, white. Instantly, a door slid by. It gave way to an elevator, made of yellow metal.

Alfred picked up the tray and headed towards it. He pressed a key and it made the door to slid back and the elevator began moving downwards. Fifteen seconds of going down gave way to the opening of the elevator.

He stepped outside, and saw a dark, surreptitious, subterranean location with cave-like structures all around. Waterfalls were common, and the place was floating over water. Steps, slides and mesh-platforms were common. In the epicentre was there Bruce Wayne.

"Well, Master Wayne, I am surprised by your work. I hadn't expected you to build such amazing place like this" Alfred, said placing the tray on a table.

Bruce Wayne was sitting, working on a computer.

"Master Wayne, can I see your suit?" he asked.

"Sure" he said and led Alfred to a corner of the area. He pressed a button and there came a suit attested on a wax statue. It was black in colour, completely and had a metal glove on it's wrist with several knifes on it, a belt with a gun in its holding, bearing a black cape over its shoulders. It also had a mask over the face.

"Wow" said Alfred. "What is it made of?"

"Nomex survival suit, Kevlar bi-weave, reinforced joints, hardly bulletproof, could easily stop a knife" said Bruce. "Well, here I'd like to show you something more cool"

He led Alfred aside to show a big vehicle seated on one of the mesh-platforms.

"This is our Bentley. I changed it into a huge vehicle, single-seated, advanced technological facilities, loaded with missiles, and it has the capacity to change into a boat, and even a plane"

"I have to admit it, Master Wayne, I am impressed"

"Well, I would like to assign you a job" said Bruce. He led him back from where they met. "This is your responsibility" he said, showing the huge computer-screen.

"What's this" he asked.

"Whenever I, umm, head out to fight, you are welcomed to use this and track necessary requirements and provide information for the same" he explained.

"Well, this looks like fun" Alfred said.

Instantly, they heard screeching. They turned their heads together to look at bats flying up near the walls.

"You've got company for yourself, Master Wayne?" said Alfred.

"You know, these stinky creatures have awoken my mind" said Bruce, walking away.

"Where are you going?" asked Alfred.

"I've gotta prepare projectiles for myself" he said, "And I'm gonna design a bat symbol on my suit" he said, walking away.

"Why particularly bats?"

"I believed they can help overcome my fear"

"Your juice, sir"

"Later, Alfred"

The next morning, Bruce Wayne dressed himself up and got ready to go to the Wayne Enterprises. He drove his Lamborghini to the famous building, and made his way to the meeting room.

Everyone was there. The business manager Lucius Fox was also present in his seat. There was a wide table, ten chairs on either side, with two narrow ends of the table. Fox welcomed Bruce and addressed him to sit on one of the narrow ends.

"Morning, Mr. Wayne" said Lucius Fox. "I would like to announce that today we have a meeting with Mr. Basil Karlo" he said, pointing to a person sitting opposite to Bruce.

"Well, what brings you here?" asked Bruce.

"Morning, Mr. Wayne" said Basil. "I'm an ordinary person, but recently, a director Mr. James White came to me and offered me the protagonist role in a film. The film's plot is centred around a boy who finds alien stuff in a UFO which crash-lands on Earth, and sets up a big alien technology company. As the film's plot says, I may need your help in providing necessary information for the same"

Bruce Wayne thought for a while.

"What do you say, Mr. Fox?" Bruce asked.

"Only if we could make publicity" Fox replied.

"Well, I agree, but don't forget to mention our name in the acknowledgement column" Bruce said.

"Sure, Mr. Wayne" Basil replied.

Bruce Wayne started walking out of the room. All the members dispersed. Basil Karlo went after Bruce.

"Damn my shoelace" sighed Bruce.

"Let me" said Basil, and he eventually tied his shoelace. He got up slowly.

"Thank you" said Bruce, and both of them started to walk together. "So, when does your film start?"

"Well, we've shot two scenes already" said Basil. "Today, we've got to shoot the scene in which I investigate about the alien tech I find"

"That's cool"

"Mr. Wayne, if you don't mind, can you visit our set today?" he asked. "We might need your help"

"Sure, if you decide the time"

"How 'bout four o'clock?"

"Wait for me" said Bruce and he sat in his Lamborghini and drove back home.

Bruce entered his house and headed straight to the drawing room. He pressed the keys on the piano and he stepped into the elevator. He went downward and got to work by upgrading his weapons.

By three, Bruce completed his work and he had with him bat symbols which he would use in battle. He looked at his watch. It was time for him to go and visit the debutant actor.

By half-past three, he got ready in his new coat, took his walky-talky in his pocket. He took his car and left for the set. It took him fifteen minutes to drive. He was welcomed by Basil, who greeted him with pleasure.

"Pleasure to have you here, Mr. Wayne" Basil said.

He directed him towards his director James White, who was sitting and making arrangements for the set.

"Mr. White, as I told you, this is Mr. Bruce Wayne" said Basil.

"It's my pleasure, sir" said White, shaking Bruce's hand.

"So, how do I help?" Bruce asked.

"We've got stuff which Basil takes and investigates about. What shall it be?" the director asked.

Bruce spent the whole evening in the set, helping Mr. White with all necessary information, so that he wouldn't be needed later on.

"Thank you so much, sir" said White. "Okay, bring Johnson and his mates, immediately" he addressed to his assistants.

As ordered, Johnson arrived on the set, with his fellow buddies. He was the antagonist of the film. Bruce somehow saw him as a not-so-good man, by the dark and cunning look in his eyes. He had a cigarette in his hands, and he also stuffed a packet of white powder into his pocket as he entered.

White explained the entire scene to him, even providing the dialogues.

"Okay, ready, lights! Camera! Action!"

Johnson delivered his dialogue. "Look, you don't know how it is to deal with a real underworld mafia"

"Cut"

The director walked towards Johnson. "The word 'underworld' wasn't in the dialogue!"

"Sorry, sir" said Johnson. "Can we have one last take?"

Bruce left the set at night, almost eight.

Seventeen consecutive day-and-night working days passed by, leaving only one last climax scene to shoot. Bruce decided to visit the set one last time. As he got into his car, he began thinking, that never had he got the opportunity to wear his black suit.

"Oh, Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure!" said Basil. "Please come"

The last scene left to shoot was the fight between Basil and Johnson. Again, Bruce was irritated as he had to watch the cunning guy Johnson. Johnson was arriving, he was again stuffing a packet of white powder in his pocket, and this time he had scratches on his head. Bruce smelt something fishy.

Soon, the shoot was done and the film was completed. Everyone cheered for themselves, celebrating with beer bottles and party poopers. All the cast and crew were cheering, except Johnson, who left to his room. White offered a drink to Bruce, who rejected it and went after Johnson.

Bruce ensured that Johnson couldn't realise his following. He, with utmost care, took a small mic from his pocket and threw it onto Johnson's shirt. The latter then neared a door and entered into it. Meanwhile, Bruce took an earphone and placed it in his ear.

"What happened, not celebrating?" said a voice.

"What the hell" came Johnson's voice. "Why would I, the great mafia king, celebrate with those assholes?"

Bruce got shocked. He ensured that he had heard right.

"If you dominate them from us, why would you opt to act in the film?" said another voice.

"It's just for money" came the reply. "Else I would be living selling and buying drugs and injecting them into people. I've been getting the thought to drug this bloody director"

Bruce removed the earphone from his ear, after which he took out the phone from his pocket and dialled his butler.

"Alfred, now" he said, in anxiety.

In ten minutes, Alfred had arrived and Bruce Wayne had received his suit. In a jiffy, he put himself into it. He was also loaded with a gun, and gloves with bat-attackers.

"Now we have to –"

There was a sudden interruption. There came a man in black, with a mask over his face. His lips bit each other, showing excitement. The lightning stroke behind, and they could see the Batman!

"Hey, who the hell are you?" asked Johnson.

"Messenger" said Bruce in a guttural tone.

"Get out" Johnson said.

"Not without the evidence" he said.

One of his buddies charged towards Bruce and lifted his hand over his face. Bruce easily blocked it. He turned it over, kicked him on his stomach and pushed him away.

"What do you want?" asked Johnson.

"Apologise to the director and expose yourself" said Bruce.

Johnson took his gun out and shot a bullet on him. Bruce dodged it and rolled aside to take hold of a beer bottle, and charged it on Johnson, which hit him on the head. Blood appeared, as Johnson groaned in pain.

His buddies charged at him all at once. Six members were racing at one time. He pointed his hand towards them, and from the glove he was wearing, came out three small bat-shaped knifes, which struck into three bodies. The other three men were unharmed and racing. Bruce took his gun out and pointed it upward. He pressed the trigger and it gave way to a grappling hook, which rested on the ceiling, and the three men missed Bruce, who in turn landed on them, stamping them hardly.

"You dirty rascal, you hit me!" said Johnson, who was now in anger. He went forward and kicked Bruce in the stomach. He did not give up. He in turn punched Johnson's chin, and smashed his forehead. Johnson was weak now. Bruce caught hold of Johnson's hair and pulled him out of the room, until he reached the place where everyone was celebrating. He threw him in the middle of everyone.

"God damn, what's this?" asked White.

"He is not an actor as you think" said Bruce, in his guttural tone. "He is a mafia king and he drugs people with his harmful medicines"

White was shocked. And so was Basil. Everyone stood there in absolute silence.

"How do I believe you?" asked White.

He took out an earphone from his belt and threw it on White. White heard the whole conversation, every single word. Everyone present there was dumbstruck.

"Son of a bitch!" said White, slapping Johnson's face in anger.

"Nothing's gonna change now" said Bruce. "Hand him over to the police" saying this, he left.

Ten minutes later, Johnson and his men were arrested.

"What do we do now, Mr. White?" said Basil.

"We've no choice but to reshoot the entire movie" said White.

"What?" Basil was shocked. "But, we've completed the entire movie. Why don't we release it?"

"Look, we can't show some crime lords in our film, it's not safe" said White. He turned towards the entire crew. "Reshoot begins tomorrow, same place, different villain"


	3. Genius-level Intellect

Chapter 3

"What? Entire reshoot?" said Bruce in the set the next day.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne" said Basil, making an upset face. "We couldn't show those underworld faces in our movie"

It was getting harder for Bruce to act. He was the one who had exposed Johnson and now he was the person acting as if he knew nothing.

"Okay, so, what are you going to do?" asked Bruce. "A different plot?"

"No, no, same plot, same scenes, but a different antagonist"

"Fine, I've got to leave" said Bruce, looking at his watch and preparing to leave.

"This time I'll definitely get the movie run in theatres" said Basil, preparing for his shot.

Night came by.

It was a grocery store. People were rushing to buy fruits and vegetables inside the store.

Thirty minutes passed by.

The police arrived. Cars with sirens were coming. Gotham City Commissioner James Gordon was coming to investigate a murder which had taken place in the grocery store. Gordon went inside and had a closer book at the dead body. Further inspection proved that he was stabbed by a knife.

"So, what happened" Gordon asked the people present there.

"Murder, sir" said the manager of the grocery store, who was coming running from a distance.

"How did it happen?" asked Gordon.

"The receptionist told me that amidst the crowd, all of a sudden, a man had collapsed, with bleeding, which was realised fifteen minutes later. By the time we realised it, he was dead"

"Did the killer run away?" asked Gordon.

"No, sir. No one had gone out of the store since the incident"

"How can you be so sure?"

"The cameras, sir"

"Do you have the footage?"

A sweat went down the manager's neck. "Yes, sir"

The commissioner followed the manager into the staff room and he was shown he camera footage of the whole scene.

"Stop there" said Gordon, as the manager was rewinding the footage. "At this point, the man suddenly collapses down. But, there is no sign of his neighbours springing into action"

"The manager is the killer" said a hard voice from the corner of the room. IT was Bruce Wayne, in his batsuit.

"Hey, who the hell are you? And how did you get into here? Get out!"

"No questions. I'm here to speak to the Commissioner" he said, ignoring the manager's face and stepping forward to talk to Gordon. "Commissioner, this man opposite to you is the killer"

"What rubbish!" said the manager. "How could you even think –"

"Quiet!" said Gordon. He turned to Bruce. "How can you prove it?"

"Simple. First of all, there was no receptionist today in the store, and no one ever knows how the man died. This man came running from a distance and explained the whole scene to you"

"So, you say I killed the man?" asked the manager.

"Obviously" said Bruce. "You had a gun in your pocket, which you still have in your back right pocket, after you had killed the man, you went to throw the gun away before anyone could see you, and as you had planned, you had to give it to your buddy, but you had an unexpected conversation with someone, which made you arrive late on the scene"

"You have no proof!" said the manager.

"Is it?" said Bruce, pulling from behind a man from the dark. He was the man whom he had given the gun to.

The manager was shocked. Bruce slightly opened the duct tape tied to his mouth.

"Yes… yes…" said the man, panting. "This man had killed the victim and had also told me to throw the gun in the dustbin, so that there would be no suspect"

"That's it" said Bruce.

Gordon looked at the man and then at the manager. He caught hold of both men, pushing them front and handing them over to his men.

"Further interrogations will be done in custody" he said to his men, who were taking them away.

Gordon turned to talk to Bruce, but he was gone. He was impressed with the skills of him and wished to take him in his future operations as well.

Gordon gave the job of interrogation to his mates. He was curious to meet Batman, but did not know how to. He went to the store room in the headquarters. On searching for a dozen minutes, he finally found an old searchlight, laid with dust and rust. He managed to bring it up to the roof.

He checked if it was working. On complete satisfaction, he then went down and brought a big black chart and scissors from the store room again. He worked for five minutes and finally made a bat shape from the chart. He liked his craft work much. He placed it on the searchlight and turned it on. He could see a batsignal on the clouds.

"What's this… Bat-Signal for?" said Bruce, who had arrived on the scene.

"Listen, I need to talk to you" said Gordon. "What are you?"

"I'm… a Batman" he said.

"What do you do?" Gordon asked.

"That must be disclosed"

"Where do you come from?"

"My mother's womb"

The commissioner gave a sigh.

"Come to the point, commissioner" said Bruce. "What do you want?"

"I really want to thank you, you made my work easy" said Gordon.

"Easy?"

"I mean, you _did _my work, initially"

"Don't worry, I really like doing such things"

"Well, I just want to say that I may need your help in my future operations and crimes"

"Your welcome" said Bruce. "Just put this Bat-Signal on the skies, I'll be right here"

"Sure"

"And listen, this must be a secret"

"As you wish"

Bruce Wayne left the scene. Just then, an officer came with the news that he was going to be interviewed. Gordon went down the headquarters and sat in front of the press present there.

"Sir, we have heard that recently there was a murder in the grocery store. Is it true" asked one of them.

"Every word you've heard of" said Gordon.

"What has actually happened, sir? Why?" asked another of them

"Umm… the manager of the store had committed the crime. Answers will be provided after the ongoing investigations"

"Was it you who had solved the case?" asked a third one.

"No, in fact, there was a real detective who had solved this one"

"Who was it, sir?"

"The Batman"


	4. Master of Fear

Chapter 4

A week later, Bruce Wayne was sitting in the Batcave, as he called the underground place in the Wayne Manor. He was searching for other crimes in Gotham but couldn't find one. He checked his phone.

'Can you come to our set today after lunch?' was Basil's message.

'Sure' was Bruce's reply.

As invited, Bruce went to the sets of the film after he had taken lunch. He drove his Lamborghini, fast enough to reach the set in fifteen minutes. He went inside and met Basil there.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne" said Basil, shaking his hand. "How're things?"

"Absolutely fine" said Bruce. "Anyways, anything new?"

"Yes, yes" he turned away. "Mr Crane!" he called and in response, came a slim man with spectacles walking towards them.

"This is Mr. Jonathan Crane" said Basil, as Bruce and Crane shook hands.

"He is the one preparing chemicals and other alien stuff for our film" said Basil.

"Oh, that's good" said Bruce.

"Nice meeting you, Mr. Wayne. I've been hearing about you regularly" said Crane.

Mr. White cut them in.

"How you doing?" he said, sipping on his coffee. "So, you've been introduced?" he said, pointing Bruce and Crane.

"Yeah" said Basil.

"So, where has the movie come to?" asked Bruce.

"There are just two scenes left to shoot" said White.

Just then, one of Crane's men came in.

"Mr. Crane, where would you like us to keep this potion?" he said, taking out a flask from the box he had in his hands.

"Get lost!" whispered Crane, but it was soft enough to reach his man.

"Potion?" said Basil, staring at the flask, which had a yellow fluid in it.

"Umm… Well, it's a luck potion that I've newly prepared" said Crane, finally forcing the truth out of his mouth.

"Luck potion?" asked Basil.

"Yeah, it's kind of which turns a person lucky" said Crane.

Basil kept staring at it until Crane told his man to keep it away.

It was night time and was time for packup. Bruce, White, Crane, everyone had left, only Basil was left in the set, alone. He was curious to try Crane's luck potion. Slowly, he made his way into Crane's room in the set. He did not have the key of the room but used his secret key to unlock the room.

He entered the room and closed the door. He searched the entire room for the yellow fluid – in every drawer, under every couch, in every cupboard. Finally, he found the flask on his desk, covered with a blue cloth.

"Here it is" he said to himself and took the flask in his hands. He examined the fluid carefully.

"I'm afraid you can't have it" said a voice from behind.

Basil turned back to see a man who wore a scary brown mask over his face. He was looking frightening, with his mouth part being covered by dirty stitched. Behind him were two men.

"Wh-Who are you?" asked Basil, shivering.

"I thought you would recognise me, Basil" said the man. "Anyways, what do you have to do with that flask?"

"I was just examining it" came a nervous reply.

"Well, I don't think an examiner would break into my room without my permission in the middle of night, just to have a look at my potion" said the man.

"Your room? You're Crane?" said Basil.

"I like robbing people. But…" he said, hitting the table aside, "I don't like people who rob me. I'm afraid I have to drug you with my toxins"

"Toxins? You're too a mafia? I'll expose you to Mr. White" said Basil and headed towards the door.

But Crane's men caught his arm. They kicked him on his stomach, making him fall back. Crane took hold of him.

"What do you think? You break into my room at night and I'll leave you alone?" said Crane. "Obviously not"

Crane's men caught Basil as Crane took another flask from one of his cupboards.

"You've got to drink this" said Crane.

"Wh-What's that?" asked Basil.

"Oh, this? My favourite. A fluid that turns man into a monster!"

"NO!" said Basil

But it was too late. Crane had managed to pour the entire fluid into Basil's mouth. Basil went unconscious.

"Throw him into the garbage" said Crane, his men doing what he said. They took him to the nearby dumpyard and buried him under the garbage.

"Debutant Basil Karlo is dead" came the news the next morning, and Bruce Wayne was shocked to see this, that he left the remaining part of his coffee. He immediately dialled White.

"Mr. White, Bruce Wayne here. What am I seeing?"

"That's shocking, Mr. Wayne" said White through the phone. "Not even his body has been recovered"

"What?"

"Yes, then how can they pronounce him dead?"

"They had no option, Mr. Wayne. I've just heard that the police were informed about a man being burnt into death, with the man being Basil Karlo"

Bruce shut the phone.

At night, he dressed up as Batman and went to the police headquarters. Since Gordon was not there, he himself set up the searchlight and switched it on. Gordon was walking on the street and he was quick in recognising the Bat-Signal on the skies. He immediately rushed to the headquarters and got onto its roof.

"Wow, this's new" said Gordon. "What's the deal?"

"Were you being informed that Basil Karlo is dead?" asked Bruce.

"Yes"

"Who told you?"

"Well, it was a man in an extremely frightening brown mask, who arrived at the headquarters the previous night and threatened me to announce him as dead"

"How could you believe him?"

"I had no option. He even showed me a photo of Basil Karlo being burnt to death"

"Do you still have the photograph?"

"I had just seen it once, in his hands"

"Damn!" said Bruce. "You don't understand. Basil is not dead!"

"How can you prove it?" asked Gordon, trying to be truthful.

"You haven't recovered the body of Basil"

"Hey Bat, the body had been burnt to ashes. There is no point of recovering it"

Bruce Wayne stood silent.

"Fine, when did this happen?" he asked.

"Yesterday night, twelve"

"You work over the night?" asked Bruce.

"Sometimes" said Gordon. "When cases like this come"

"Okay, bye" said Bruce, as he jumped off the building.

He went to Mr. James White then, undressed as the Bat.

"Mr. White, I've got to talk to you" said Bruce, addressing him into seating. "Can you tell me where was Basil last night?"

"He told me that he would sleep in the set itself, in his room" said White.

"Did he call you the night?"

"Yes, he called me to confirm whether every member of the crew had left the set"

"Which means, he had to do something very secretive and –"

"And in the process he was burnt" finished White.

They exchanged looks.

"Anyways, it's dark outside" said White. "Good evening"

Bruce Wayne waited for White to leave. Then he himself prepared to leave. As he walked away, his bat-knife fell down from his pocket, which he had carried in case of emergency. But, as he went to pick it up, he saw something in the dark. Brown as a gunny bag. The man who had come to Gordon the previous night.

He followed him. He kept walking into the dark. As he went forward, he less heard the sound of footsteps. He was sure that there was someone who had heard their conversation. He tried to get hold of the man. He went forward and heard the sound of a knife sharpening. He threw his Bat-Knife in that direction. He went forward to collect the knife, but found no one there.

Bruce prepared to leave but in all of a sudden, there came a hand from behind him. Bruce turned back and saw a man injecting drugs into him. He injected it right onto his right chest. Bruce was groaning in pain. He knelt down, hurting badly. He looked upward to see a man in an ugly, dirty, brown mask.

"What, you Bat?" said Crane. "You think you can just stealth into my room and rob me?"

Bruce groaned.

"Thinking who I am?" he said. "I am Jonathan Crane, the famous professor in town"

Bruce as shocked.

"Thinking what I did to you? I've drugged you, Mr. Wayne"

Bruce was aggressed. He stood up and punched Crane's face. He took one of his Bat-Symbol and stabbed it in Crane's stomach. Crane screamed in pain, leaving the place immediately, going into the dark. Bruce Wayne managed to get back to the Wayne Manor, though he was partially unconscious.

"Strange Day, Alfred" Bruce said, getting into his bed-slippers.

"I can say it is a strange life, Master Wayne" said Alfred.

"Anyways, I've got work to do tomorrow" said Bruce. "I've put a tracking device on the Scarecrow's coat." He bid goodbye to Alfred, who switched the light off and left the room.


	5. A Man Down

Chapter 5

The next morning, Bruce Wayne drove to Wayne Enterprises, for a meeting with James White. He took enough time to reach the meeting room.

"So, Mr. White" said Bruce. "What's the deal?"

"Nothing, Mr. Wayne" said White, straightening his chair. "I'm planning to cancel the movie"

Bruce stood quiet for a moment. "Why?"

"It's not the time. Basil is dead and we can't show him in the cinema now"

"There's no big deal" said Bruce. "You can write 'In remembrance of Basil Karlo' in the beginning"

"No, I can't"

"Well, then what do you plan to do?"

"Shoot the whole movie again with a different actor"

Bruce was irritated. "Screw this" he said, leaving the room.

Post-lunch time was spent by Bruce in the Batcave, working on the Batcomputer. He was tracking the Scarecrow.

"Can I help, Master Wayne?" asked Alfred, who had just arrived on the scene.

"Yes, just keep your mouth shut" came an inhuman reply from Bruce.

Just then, came a voice 'Okay' through the tracking device. Bruce got prepared. He listened carefully.

"Okay, so night we're meeting Jervis Tetch, to sell manequilite drugs?" came the voice of Crane.

"Yes, master" came another voice. "Night at eight"

"That's it" said Bruce Wayne, disconnecting the tracking device.

"But, Master Wayne, you do not know where they're gonna meet" said Alfred, thinking in this case, he was smarter than Bruce.

"We have the tracking device on, Alfred" said Bruce.

Bruce prepared to leave, but all of a sudden, he felt abnormal. He ignored it and started walking again. But, he felt more of unconsciousness. He stopped walking and put a hand over his head. He fell to the ground.

"Master Wayne! Master Wayne!" came Alfred, running from behind.

Night at seven o'clock, Bruce Wayne got up in his bed. He tried to get up but was handcuffed to the bed.

"Alfred! Alfred! Free me!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry. Master Wayne, I'm afraid I can't let you out this night" said Alfred.

"But why?"

"Yesterday, when you were drugged by the Scarecrow, you did not have any serious effect. This drug, will have an effect on the victim, only after twenty hours"

"Which means, the Scarecrow knew I had kept a tracking device on his coat. He drugged me, so that I wouldn't be available at his trade today"

"So, what do we do now, Master Wayne?"

The scene cut to the police department where Commissioner Gordon was sitting in his office, working on some cases, when an officer came by and gave him a letter. He opened it and read it.

'Commissioner, I've found the one who killed Basil Karlo. The man, in the brown mask. He's going to meet a man named Jervis Tetch, and I have sent you the tracking device. I hope you would surely get hold of him. – Batman'

"Officers!" shouted Gordon.

Gordon was following the tracking device, which led him to a warehouse. He led his officers near the entrance and waited, hearing the conversation inside.

"Oh!" came a voice. "So, you're… um… what do I call you?"

"Anything, but brown mask" came a voice, which Gordon recognised as that of the one who had threatened him to announce Basil as dead.

"So, what do you have?" asked the first voice.

"Oh, this I've got is manequilite, with which you can control a person's mind and can any facts that he alone knows" said Crane.

The first voice broke into laughter. He increased his voice as he laughed harder.

"Do you know me?" it said.

"Jervis Tetch, also known as the Mad Hatter" said Crane.

"You know, my mind is made of these… little things. I can myself control man's mind"

Just then Gordon and officers broke open the entrance and stepped in.

"Hands up!" he said. "Specially you" he said, pointing to Crane.

"You see, you Scarecrow" said Mad Hatter. "It's time to use my drugs"

He stepped down and walked forward to Gordon's assistants.

"You know" he said focusing on the officer's eyes. "I am the Mad Hatter… I am the Mad Hatter… I am the Mad Hatter"

Slowly, the officer fell under Mad Hatter's control, as his eyes turned red. He walked and stood behind him.

"See?" he said, turning to Crane. "Attack!" he said to the officer.

The officer started shooting Gordon's men and was successful in shooting two on their chests, while the remaining went for shelter. The officer was rapidly shooting and reloading his bullets.

"Damn, he's on his side!" said Gordon. "We've got to distract him"

Gordon then began to look around the warehouse. He then found a huge hammer at one corner. He immediately rushed towards it, dodging the officer's bullets, when, he finally got hold of the hammer. He rode towards him and banged him hard on the head. The officer began to shake, when finally, he dropped his gun and his eyes turned back white.

"You okay?" said Gordon, holding the officer. He turned the opposite side. "Uh-oh"

He looked as all six of his officers had red eyes. In his struggle to turn one to normal, he had allowed six to become abnormal. They all began shooting at Gordon, but the officer behind him charged forward and took the bullets.

"Noooo!" said Gordon, trying to stop the officer.

All the six officers stopped shooting, as the man fell to the ground. Gordon was trying his best to revive him, when he was struck hard in the head.

Next morning, Gordon found himself in the hospital.

Bruce Wayne was in the Wayne Manor.

"Damn! Gordon missed him" said Bruce. "Now, I'm going to fight alone, Alfred. No need of a third person"

Alfred did not know what to say.

The night came and Bruce Wayne was dressed in his batsuit. He was trying to track the location of Jervis Tetch, but it was not available. He went to the same warehouse where Gordon had gone the previous night, since he was listening via the audiophone the previous night, lying on his bed.

He slightly pushed open the warehouse door and stepped inside. He began looking at the interior of the warehouse, its contents and any strange material. Suddenly, he heard the doors being closed.

"Welcome, Wayne" he heard the voice of the Scarecrow. "Welcome, to my manor"

Bruce looked all around him but found no sign of a man. Suddenly, there came brightness. Green toxin was released into the room, and he couldn't see things in their normal manner. He looked up and saw the Scarecrow.

"What, Wayne?" he said. "Do you see me large and appalling?"

It was true. Bruce could see a large Scarecrow, not the ordinary one.

"Do you want to hit me?" he said.

Bruce went forward to punch him, but realised that he had just moved his hand through air.

"You see a large me, but you don't know where I am" he said and punched Bruce on the face.

Bruce Wayne felt pain. He wanted to punch the Scarecrow hard. But he could see only a large image of him. He did not know where he was standing. Then, he was again punched by the Scarecrow on his stomach.

"This is my homeworld! I was born in the toxins and raise in the toxins!" he said, punching Bruce, making him fall to a distance.

Bruce was irritated. He tried to concentrate. He couldn't see things ordinarily. He then thought of a plan. He closed his eyes. Now he couldn't see the large Scarecrow, nor the green toxin. Darkness. Just darkness. Scarecrow went forward to punch Bruce, but this time he caught hold of his hand.

"Is it? Then now you must know what it needs to fight with the Dark Knight!" he said and punched Scarecrow on his face, and heard the sound of him falling back.

Scarecrow moved forward to punch Bruce again, who once more caught hold of his hand.

"I was born in the dark, you bloody Scarecrow!" said Bruce, kicking him in the distance, making him fall to a distance. He even heard him groaning and threw a Bat-Knife on him. Scarecrow was writhing in pain.

Meanwhile, Bruce set out to look for the toxin cylinder. He walked and walked, searching for an object making whistling sounds. He finally found the origin and even found its cap. He closed the cap, which prevented the release of more toxin into the room.

Two minutes later, Bruce Wayne opened his eyes to find an absolutely ordinary warehouse.

Crane opened his eyes to find himself in a cell. He got up, walking all around.

"Hey! Hey!" he said, banging the cell door. "Get me out!"

Commissioner Gordon showed up. "Mr. Johnathan Crane, you've been arrested for keeping harmful drugs by yourself and even killing Basil Karlo"

"But how?"

"You don't know what the Dark Knight is"

"I know, I know, the Dark Knight is none other than…"

He was shot on the spot. Gordon looked around to see a young boy. He had short hair and looked angry, holding the gun.

"Who're you, boy?" asked Gordon.

"My name is Dick Grayson. This son of a bitch had released toxin in my house in my absence which killed my parents and my brother!" said the boy, who also spit on Crane's corpse.

"Listen, listen" said Gordon. "Come with me"

Gordon took Dick to the roof, where he operated the searchlight, which in turn represented the Bat-Signal on the skies.

"Boy, I observe you as a man who strongly cares about justice, isn't it?"

Dick nodded.

"Now, listen carefully. As you are alone now, I would like to hand you over to –"

"Me?" said Bruce, who had appeared out of nowhere.

Dick was afraid.

"Don't worry. He's not a bad guy. He is a hero. In fact, he is the one who brought Crane here"

Dick looked at Bruce. He smiled.

"So, Batman, would you like to adopt Dick?" asked Gordon.

"Surely, I would like to keep an assistant" said Bruce.


	6. Batman and Robin

Chapter 6

"This is amazing!" said Dick Grayson, who was now exploring the Batcave.

Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth had told Dick Grayson that Bruce Wayne was Batman, because an assistant must know that. Dick did not react suspiciously, he just enjoyed his new life.

"What is this vehicle?" asked Dick, pointing at the modified Bentley.

"That is… the Batmobile" said Bruce.

"You're the most practical engineer I've ever seen" said Dick, just staring at the cool features.

"Okay, Master Dick" said Alfred. "It's nine, so I just that you go to sleep"

"Where's my bedroom?" he asked.

"Second floor, second from left, air conditioned" said Alfred.

"Cool!" he said, leaving the Batcave.

Bruce Wayne felt Dick was a too overexcited personality and wished he hadn't chosen to take care of him. However, he had a perfect sleep that night.

The next morning, Dick woke up only to enter the Batcave. But he found Bruce even before him.

"Good morning, Mr. Wayne" said Dick.

"Good morning, kid"

"What're you doing?"

"Just working on something"

"What does that 'something' mean?"

"Nothing, just tracking Jervis Tetch"

"Who is he?"

"The friend of the Scarecrow"

Dick Grayson's smile faded from his face.

"What do we have to do with him?"

"Expose his criminal activities and get him back in Arkham"

"I would wish to come"

"Definitely not"

"But why? Yesterday, in front of Gordon you told that you might need an assistant"

"I _might _need it. Now I don't"

"Please?"

Bruce looked at Dick's face.

"What can you do?" Bruce asked, partially accepting him to be beside him.

"What? You test me? I've even won the best acrobat award in my college!"

"Is it? Why don't you show me then?"

Dick stretched his arms and clenched his fists. He went to the Batmobile and climbed on it. From there, he jumped to the Batcomputer, which were twelve feet away from each other. Bruce looked surprised.

He then climbed on the walls of the Batcave, jumping from one wall to the other, using his brilliant acrobatic skills. Bruce was impressed. Dick got down.

"Well, lad, I'm impressed. Alfred will prepare you a costume, then tonight, we'll fight crime together"

"Well, I'd like to prepare it myself"

Night came by.

Bruce Wayne was dressed as the Batman and was working on the Batcomputer, when Dick Grayson arrived.

"Mr. Wayne! How do I look?" he said, arriving in a red shirt with green pants and sleeves and a yellow cape.

"You look brilliant, kid" said Bruce.

"What're you doing?"

"The same which I told you in the morning"

"Well, have you found anything?"

"I've almost found Jervis Tetch and here he is" said Bruce, pressing a key.

They heard his voice. "No, No, I didn't do anything! Trust me, I didn't do anything"

"Well, what's that?" asked Dick.

"Come kid, we have to move" said Bruce, preparing to leave.

"Where are we going?"

"The same warehouse I went yesterday"

Bruce and Dick got seated in the Batmobile and they drove through the secret passageway between 252 Street and the Batcave, when they finally got into the streets. They reached the warehouse. They entered inside. They found Jervis Tetch, caught hold of by a mysterious, monstrous, ugly, brown amount of clay.

"Yuck! He sucks!" said Dick, looking at the clay man.

The clay man then took a knife from aside and stabbed Mad Hatter in his stomach. He had died.

"You have met Jonathan Crane! The man who ruined my life!"

He turned to look at Bruce.

"Well, who're you, Clayface?" said Bruce.

"I'm Basil Karlo and I'm still alive" he replied.

"Basil? How're you… alive?" asked Bruce.

"That's a nice question" said Basil, in his clay form. "That night, Crane made me drink something which turned me into this dirty form. And now, no one is going to accept me in society"

Dick did not understand what was going on.

"My first film was going to release, but it got cancelled. Now even the reshot version got cancelled, because of you, you Bat-Face!"

Bruce looked shocked. "What do you mean because of me?"

"If you hadn't exposed Johnson, happily my first film would have run in the cinema!" he said, running forward and punching Bruce hardly, who fell back.

"Then for the reshoot, Mr. White called Crane and this happened to me. If you hadn't done what you did, I would've been back to normal!" he said, punching Bruce harder and kicking him to a distance.

"But" said Bruce. "If that film had released, it would have made a wrong impression on you"

"Whatever could have happened, but it wouldn't be like this!" he cried, taking a rod and hitting Bruce with it. He again smashed the rod against Bruce, who blocked it this time.

"Enough of your foolishness, Basil" said he and took the rod instead and hit Basil with it.

He went forward to punch him but Basil shape-shifted himself and dodged it.

"You think you can overpower me, Bat?" he said and punched Batman on the face.

"You did th–"

Basil's dialogue was interrupted by Dick. He had switched the vacuum cleaner on, which was sucking Basil in it.

"Hey, what're you doing?" said Basil, being sucked harder.

"Sucking you, dumbass" he said, increasing its power.

Basil was getting sucked harder and harder, until finally he got entirely sucked into the vacuum cleaner. He couldn't get out of it, since he was completely in liquid form now.

"How'd you do that?" asked Bruce.

"My seniors often rag me to clean the classroom" said Dick. "Now I understand its significance"

Bruce heard the police siren outside.

"Time to go, kid" he said, and both of them vanished in a jiffy.

Thirty minutes later, the Bat-Signal was up on the skies. Ultimately, Bruce went to the roof of the police department, but this time, with Dick. They met Commissioner Gordon there.

"So, you've killed Jervis Tetch?" said Gordon.

"Had to. He was about to drug us" lied Bruce.

"I hope young Dick was also involved in this"

"Of course, he was the brainy one"

"Okay, so, I've got another interview, so, I've got to go" said Gordon, and went downstairs, where he was greeted by a large number of press.

One of the members spoke up. "Sir, can you explain us the latest crime world in Gotham?"

"Yes, the murder of drug dealer Jervis Tetch" Gordon said.

"Who was it this time, sir?"

"Batman and Robin"


End file.
